Web survey — a series of questions completed by participants over the internet.
Questionnaire — a series of written questions completed by participant on his/her own. Researcher may be there to supervise.
Interview (Telephone)—the researcher asks a participant a series of questions over the telephone.
Interview (Face-to-Face)—the researcher asks a participant a series of questions in person.
Focus Group—similar to interviews, in which the researcher interviews 2 or more participants at the same time. These are typically done face to face, but may also occur over the phone.
Experiment—there are usually at least 2 groups, and the groups are treated differently based on the manipulation of the independent variable. Behavior resulting from this treatment difference is measured--the dependent variable. If one group gets a specific treatment and ones does not, usually the treated group is called the experimental group and other groups are called control groups. Conditions other than the independent variable are held as constant as possible for all groups.
Intervention Study—participants are selected from one population, and then split up into two or more groups. Typically, one group receives the intervention, and the other group does not (the control group). The two groups are then compared at the end of the intervention. The intention of interventions is to improve the condition of a group of people.
For example, smokers may be recruited to participate in a study, and half will be participate in a smoking-cessation program, while the other half will not. At the end of the study, the two groups may be compared on their smoking behavior.
Evaluation Study —the researcher is interested in determining the effectiveness of an on-going program. For example, a researcher may want to evaluate the effectiveness of a needle-exchange program on reducing risky drug-use behavior.
Ethnographic Research -- Testing that is carried out under realistic conditions of use. Results are usually qualitative rather than quantitative. See the following for further clarification: http://www.gse.upenn.edu/cue
Oral History -- Oral history is the systematic collection of living people’s testimony about their own experiences. Typically answers are free response, and are qualitative in nature.
Behavioral Observation — Researcher enters an environment simply to observe the behaviors of his/her participants. There is often no interaction between the researcher and the participants.
This refers to data that was not originally collected for the purpose of research. Examples of this may include: exam grades from an Intro Biology course, video-footage of students engaged in campus events, observations reported in a diary
Data in the public domain have already been collected, and are accessible by the public. Examples of this would include census bureau data, voting records, and tax information
Does the data set reveal the identity of individuals? This could be because actual names are provided, or because enough information about each person is provided, that it is possible to deduce WHO each person is.
Confidentiality means that the research records have information that potentially could identify people, but that information is kept secure so that it will not be revealed to other people.
"Deception" is involved when participants intentionally are told something untrue (not the truth). This is NOT the same as concealment (when the researcher may not reveal all details of the research protocol). Deception should be used only if necessary for the success of the protocol and no alternatives exist. In this case, it must be justified and participants debriefed as soon as possible.
In qualitative research projects, researcher may choose to provide a copy of the results to the participants prior to completion of the project (i.e. publication) to ensure that the contributions of the participants have been captured accurately.
In qualitative and quantitative research projects, researchers may choose to send a copy of the final product to the participants, as a courtesy.
Anonymity’ means that the researcher is not recording any information that potentially could identify people. ‘Confidentiality’ means that the research does have information that potentially could identify people, but that information is kept secure so that it will not be revealed to other people.
Will you be using video images or audio clips during presentations? Or, will you use captured photographs in the write-ups of your work? (If you simply are videotaping or audio-recording for transcription purposes only, please answer “no” to this question).
How will participants be told about the purposes of your study, and what it means to participate?
In this circumstance, the informed consent form is NOT separated from the data that are being collected. You should have provided substantial documentation for why this is necessary.
Will participants be told what they may gain by participating or what you as the researcher may gain, or what society in general may gain from these results? Benefits should not be over-stated. Often there is no direct benefit to the participant, and this should be acknowledged.
If you answered “yes” to question 11 then you should provide your participants with details on how they will be compensated for these risks, and/or how to seek treatment for any psychological or physical injury that may result (i.e. MacVicar Health Center).
To confirm that a document has been written on an 8 th grade level, readability statistics, do the following: